Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Departure creates power void on staff
Spoelstra looking to fill hole left by Howard’s departure
MIAMI — The next big thing for Erik Spoelstra could be finding the next big thing.
And that is about more than the Miami Heat’s No. 13 pick in the June 20 NBA draft at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center.
Rather, it’s about finding a replacement after assistant Juwan Howard moved on to the coaching job at Michigan.
Because for all the trust Spoelstra has in his remaining assistants, it’s as if the Heat at the moment are playing small ball with a staff where Chris Quinn, at 6-foot-2, is the long of the otherwise short of it.
For years, it has been Howard who has worked with the Heat big men, often seen on the court in the hours before games first working out Bam Adebayo and then Hassan Whiteside.
Now there is a void, and for more than Howard’s leadership.
Anthony Carter, who was elevated to a player-development role last season, as a quasi assistant coach, is the only staff member beyond Quinn to have played in the NBA.
Last season’s other bench assistant besides Howard and Quinn was Dan Craig, with fel
low assistant coach Octavio De La Grana working from behind the bench, often alongside video coordinator Eric Glass.
Unlike during the latter stages of David Fizdale’s tenure with the Heat, when he held the title of assistant head coach, there has been no such lead designation among Spoelstra’s assistants these past three seasons, with Fizdale first leaving to coach the Memphis Grizzlies before moving on to the New York Knicks.
Nor, like some teams, have the Heat designated an offensive or defensive coordinator.
But on a team with a deep rotation at center that includes Whiteside, Adebayo and Kelly Olynyk, with the possibility of another big man being added in the draft, there is only so much diminutive assistants such as Quinn, Craig, De La Grana and Carter can provide when it comes to post play and paint deterrence.
It is why a move to the bench by Carter could remain on hold, and why a move toward franchise icon Tim Hardaway, dismissed as a Detroit Pistons assistant coach in the 2018 offseason after coach Stan Van Gundy was let go, would appear a longshot.
The irony is the Heat already have available three elite-level oversized instructors, be it for power play (Alonzo Mourning), inside finesse (Chris Bosh) or grit and hustle (Udonis Haslem).
In each case, the grind of coaching on a full-time basis does not hold particular allure, even as each has taken time to mentor and instruct, and likely will continue to do so.
Mourning has made clear since his retirement that the preference is for his front-office work and the occasional tutorial, often while in dress pants.
Bosh, like recently retired Dwyane Wade, has opted for a life that includes basketball mentorship as only a part of postcareer pursuits.
And Haslem repeatedly has stressed that he does not see coaching in his future, with a desire for more time with his family and entrepreneurial pursuits if he does decide to move on after 16 NBA seasons.
Among potential options to coach big men are former Heat players who have lost assistant jobs in recent staff makeovers, with Ed Pinckney not retained by the Minnesota Timberwolves and James Posey likely not to be retained by the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Among those who served as coaches at last week’s NBA Draft Combine in Chicago as part of the league’s mentorship program were former NBA big men Roy Hibbert and Kendrick Perkins.